The Hidden Gem Cafe Sheffield: The best brunch in Sheffield is in a happy working cafe that lives up to its name - review

Making its home in a renovated old school house and tucked away behind the newish houses of Folkwood Grove, The Hidden Gem Cafe does not so much as live up to its name but boast it about it. Two quiet little signs reading “cafe” on nearby Ringinglow Road is all the hint you’re getting that one of – if not the – best brunches in Sheffield is nearby.

Part working cafe, part learning centre for people with learning disabilities, The Hidden Gem is such a warm place to visit. Set up by independent charity WORK Ltd, one half of the building is lively with hands-on projects like gardening, textiles, sport and drama, and the other half offers work experience in the Gem.

And it’s brimming with loveliness. The walls are adorned with pictures of the charity’s users, and charming gifts are on sale. The staff were peppy and welcoming on what was at the time a rotten, rainy day. One seating area is in the bright, skylit conservatory with views to the nearby playing field, while the other is cozy with a view through to the kitchen at work. Other customers included cyclists, parents, and walkers with dogs coming in from the leafy rambling trails nearby. It’s a bustling, happy scene.

But here comes that bar-setting breakfast. Two flat whites, a full English and creamy garlic wild mushrooms on toast, for about £9 a plate, £11 if you want extras.

It was an achievement. A five out of five in every dimension. I have never seen bacon so thick – more like a gammon steak, more like visiting your farmer friend in the country who makes their own and cuts it as chunky as they like. Two sausages, with none of that overdone spiciness just to be gourmet, but just tasty and well-rounded. Hash browns as crisp as Sunday roasties, golden eggs, and baked beans fancier than I’ve ever had them. Can I call the black pudding ambitious? I think there was nutmeg in it, I chewed it slowly trying to puzzle it out. My partner’s mushrooms on toast was an effort to try something new, but it disappeared (and well worth paying extra to get bacon added).

Just between you and me, but brunch bores me, and it has done for a long time. I thought I had tried them all and they were all the same. Always a bit too heavy, always a bit too fancy, and never surprising.

So I’m delighted to have gone looking for The Hidden Gem. I’ve found my new place for taking my parents or people I want to impress. I don’t want anyone else’s bacon anymore. I’m looking forward to heading back for their lunchtime menu of burgers and soups. I want to take a big walk this summer that ends there (maybe from Rivelin Park, it’s only an hour away).

Please do go out of your way to find this cafe, serving, in my opinion, the best brunch in Sheffield.